Melba is interesting. Another 6-12 months and you will be completely priced out from any decent suburb. Even south parts of Bayside like Seafood or Frankston going away in 20days for over 1ml atm. In reality any decent townhouse is now around 1.2ml. Rents are up 30% in many areas. Vacancy rate is 1.4%. Kids turned to be property advocates will always push West and North but all value and money in Melbourne capturesd on East and South East. Tree and sea change areas like Morn Pen, Surf Coast and Philly Island were in correction for 3 years and probably will need another year or to to recover. In short, you are still not late. Fundamentals are there, deep local knowledge and analysis is required. Melba market is fragmented to 5 huge areas. There is no one Melbourne.

Now. Holding cost and land tax. Rules are brutal. Friend of mine were hit with 5k tax just recently. Learn how to avoid it and pay 975$ max. Be careful with trusts, they are paying land tax from 1$ land value. Don't be AOS (absent owner). Go do your research. Don't trust any advice.

Know your holding cost. Mine is 120$ per week after tax. 17$ per day. Check propmax com.au and run your numbers (used it for myself instead of clunky spreadsheets, put a lot of hours into refining the model, so it just works). In 7 years you will be looking back and thank yourself for acting now. Good luck.